Whether you thought they were a smart way to remain on-screen when creative had nothing for him, or tedious, unnecessary “comedy”, Johnny Gargano’s months of catatonia are over.
On SmackDown, that’s meant a WWE title shot against CM Punk and a role by current WWE champ Sami Zayn’s side. It also means Gargano is no longer planking while mute, and can explain why he was in his previous kayface state. Which Johnny did on the latest edition of his vlog with a story about his & Candice LeRae’s son, Quill:
“Quill watches the show. He watches SmackDown, and he loves video games. And in his head, when you win or you get a championship like those [motions to title belts displayed on the wall], you get the treasure. It’s a treasure to him.
“And I don’t know how many times over the past year, we would fly out on Thursday, and before I would leave, Quill would ask me, like, ‘Dad, are you gonna win? You gonna get the treasure?’ And I would tell him, ‘I try, man. I’m really, really going to try.’
“And then I would have a match on SmackDown, and I’d lose, and I’d come back through the curtain, and Candice would have the phone in her hand. She’d be on FaceTime, and she’d show me Quill just crying, bawling his eyes out, saying, ‘Daddy lost. Daddy’s not going to get the treasure. There’s no treasure.’
“And, like, that broke me. So in my head, it was easier to just not try than to get up and fail and let people down. And I’m not saying that’s right. I’m not saying that’s the way to go about things, but that’s what I did.“
From there, he talked about how that match against Punk ultimately made the difference:
“I got a chance at the WWE Championship, a title I have dreamed my whole life of. And I took a leap of faith, and I stood up. And that reaction to me changed everything because it showed me that it didn’t matter. It showed me that people still believed in me.”
Which all sounds very much like babyface Johnny Wrestling, but he’s still pledging allegiance to Zayn:
“I am loyal to the people that are loyal to me. And Sami Zayn was loyal to me, and I ride or die for the people that are loyal to me.”
But he also closed things out by saying he needs to collect some “treasure” to bring home to Quill.
Do you like Johnny Gargano’s explanation for his months of laying quiet and flat backstage? Does it change your opinion on the gimmick?
